English Listening: My New Hobby | Episode 26

Listen to a story about my new hobby!

You’ll also learn how the words “how to” become the sound /haʊt̬ə/ in fast, natural spoken English.

Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!

Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.

You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.

THE STORY

I spend a lot of time at a craft store in my town because I’m really into scrapbooking. One day I was wandering around the aisles when I spotted what I thought was the greatest thing ever: A Star Wars crochet kit. It was in a box, and it included a book that explained how to crochet 12 mini-Star Wars characters. It also included a crochet hook and all the yarn & filling needed to make two of the characters. I didn’t actually know how to crochet, but I really wanted to learn because these Star Wars characters were so cute!

Crocheting is a craft. You make things by using yarn and a special hook. You create stitches and join them together to make things like blankets, hats, scarves, or cute Star Wars characters. The book in the kit contains patterns. A pattern tells you how many stitches and what kind of stitches you need to make to complete each character.

I learned how to crochet the same way everyone learns a new skill nowadays: by watching how-to videos on YouTube! I learned how to make the different stitches and how to crochet in a circle to make round shapes.

Crocheting requires patience, but it’s relaxing. Sometimes I can spend an hour working on one character. Of course, my eyes are blurry afterward because the stitches are really small, but that goes away eventually. My other problem is that I pull the stitches apart and start over again if I’m not satisfied with my work. It takes me a long time to finish one character, but I really enjoy crocheting!

PRONUNCIATION TIP

HOW THE WORDS HOW TO BECOME THE SOUND /haʊt̬ə/ IN FAST, NATURAL SPOKEN ENGLISH

This transcript uses IPA symbols to represent sounds and teach pronunciation. Learn more about the IPA here.

It’s important to know how to say this sound so you can also hear this sound.

Listen to these sentences from the story:

I didn’t actually know how to crochet, but I really wanted to learn …

I learned how to crochet the same way everyone learns a new skill nowadays …

Did you hear the words how or to in those sentences? There are two things that happen when how is followed by the preposition to. In fast, natural speech, the two words are combined and reduced to the sound /haʊt̬ə/.

The preposition to is a function word. It’s a grammar word. In needs to be in the sentence to make the sentence grammatically correct, but it’s not an important word. In fast, natural speech, the vowel O is reduced to the schwa sound /ə/, and to is pronounced /tə/.

When the letter T is between two vowel sounds and it’s at the beginning of an unstressed syllable, it becomes the alveolar flap sound, which is also called flap T, tap T, flapped T or tapped T.

It’s not a fully pronounced T sound, but it’s not a D sound either, as many students think it is.

There’s a bump behind your top teeth called the alveolar ridge. The tip of your tongue quickly taps, or hits, this ridge behind your top teeth.

Your tongue doesn’t stop in the middle of the sound as it normally does with a fully pronounced T sound. There is also no release of air after the T. It’s a quick tongue tap.

Listen carefully:
/haʊt̬ə/

How and to are not always pronounced /haʊt̬ə/. You will hear American English speakers say both /haʊ tu/ and /haʊ tə/

In fact, I said /haʊ tu/ in the story in this sentence:

I learned how to crochet by watching how-to /haʊ tu/ videos on YouTube.

In that sentence I used how-to as an adjective to describe the kind of videos I watched on YouTube.

Often when American English speakers are speaking slowly or when they want to speak clearly when they give a speech or a presentation at work, they will say /haʊ tu/ or /haʊ tə/. It’s important that you know all three ways of saying how to so that you can hear all three ways of saying how to.

Hello Melanie,
As a student from China, your lessons give me confidence to improve my listening and oral English, thank you very much. And I read other comments, you post lessons on the YouTube, honestly, I really hope I can watch it, but… crying… Thank you for your help in English.

Hello Melanie,
I am very interesting in your postcard, I’m Vietnamese and your youtube is very useful with me.
In my free time I like reading book(many kinds of book:)) , and talk with my little son who is studying English too,he loves E and speaks all day.
Thank you so much
P/S: may be grammar is wrong but i think you will understand.

Hello there Melanie! in my free time I like being outdoor and enjoying nature walking the dog, hiking and taking wildlife pictures is my favourite hobby. I also like teaching Spanish in my free time although i’m not qualified nevertheless i enjoy sharing the language with like minded people interested in Spanish language.

Hello Melanie, as usual it’s also the best podcast in terms of learning and improving. Thank you so much for your valuable work and efforts which make us more capable to understand and speak english fluently.
In my free time, I always go to your websites to listen podcasts and also, I play games sometimes.

Hi.
Thank you for interesting and usefull episods. I watch movie. Red book. Do a cross word surf the internet when im free. But nowdays im so busy . Im working on my thesis for my master degree. But. Every midnight when i’ve just gone to bed. I study english even for 10 miniutes . And your website is such a exteraordinary method for learning.

All the best to you on the IELTS, Tareq! I am happy to hear that my podcast is helping you prepare for the exam. English tests like the IELTS aren’t easy, so I know how hard you are working to prepare for it!

Hi Malenie, in my free time, I try to keep in touch on you page, because I need to learn English with quality and fast, for this reason I have been studyding more or less one hour by day. I hope that in a few time my English become better with you method, Thank you

Hi dear teacher, Thank you very much for this interesting podcast.
I spend most of my free time with reading English story and novel and watching movies for improving my English language , really I am eager to English language and I have many big hobbies , my biggest hobby that , i wanna be a perfect in English language . thanks again

DEAR TEACHER MELANIE, THANKS FOR SHARING THIS ENGLISH LESSON. I LOVE TO WRITE FOR A NEWSPAPER IN SPANISH LANGUAGE, AND AS A HOBBY I SHARE WITH OTHERS HISPANIC ADULTS YOUR LESSONS AND ENJOY HELPING THEM TO LEARN A LITTLE BIT MORE ENGLISH IN THIS SMALL COMMUNITY NAMED “WINTON” IN CALIFORNIA. GREETINGS!

Hi Melanie, In my free time i like to do crosswords puzzles , browsing the web and hearing podcasts in english to train my ear so as to understand native speakers when they communicate in natural spoken english.

Hi Melanie, Thank you very much for sharing podcast with us. When I have free time, I generally read something in English to improve my English skills. So I find useful your writing, podcast and other advice to improve my English skills.

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About Melanie

I help English learners move from the classroom into the real world by teaching you real world sentences and helping you understand natural spoken English. I also help you find the best study tips and training techniques that work for you!

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